An unexpected visitor
by rAnocKs
Summary: This is an AU story. Gabby is being stalked. What! But there's nothing she or anyone else can do about that.
1. Chapter 1

Okay, small intro: First fanfic. Nervous like hell. In this story Chicago Fire world sort of crosses over to the supernatural world . I know, so weird!

I don't own nothin not even this computer that I am uploading my story through. It's a friend's. But hey, enjoy.

 **What is going on with Gabby ?**

Gabriella Dawson had been dozing in front of her laptop screen for the past 10 minutes. Her head was propped up and supported by her left hand while her other hand rested on the top of the keyboard. Every now and then her head would slip out of her hand and bob sharply before she gained control of it again and resumed her previous position.

Gabby was off duty today and so was her boyfriend Matt Casey. Matt however was out for a meeting with the city council and other alderman stuff. He had recently appointed Susan Wheeler, a political consultant from New York, to work with him. It had been two weeks since she was appointed and she was already keeping Matt on his toes. He was now busier than before. He came back home later than before and consequently, Gabby and him spoke to and saw each other a lot less than before. Gabby wouldn't admit it to anyone but she had started feeling lonely. But at least they weren't fighting about it. Yet. At Least she and Matt were on good terms right now, right?

As Gabby slipped deeper and deeper into her sleep, she had no idea that someone had been watching her. And not just watching, they were trying to grab her attention with zero success till now. If she could just wake up right now, she could see that her laptop had shut down automatically( nope,it wasn't battery issues). She could see that the light just above her head had started to fluctuate without any reason.

Just after few minutes, Gabby was brought out of her slumber by a shattering noise.

*CRASH*

Gabby jumped awake and looked around her to locate the source of the noise. Nothing. She then turned around in her chair to discover shards of broken glass strewn across the kitchen floor. She walked into the kitchen and instantly knew the broken glass pieces had belonged to a glass from which she had been drinking water before her nap. She was confused.

"How did the glass get here?"

"Maybe I don't remember getting up and putting it on the kitchen counter."

"But how could it drop to the floor on its own. It can't be the wind, all the windows in the apartment are shut." Her mind reasoned with itself. Maybe she was tired and her mind was playing tricks on her. She should just go to sleep, she decided.

"And what's with the freaking lamp? Maybe the bulb had run its course " she thought. She walked back to her laptop to switch it off and found that it was already dead. What the hell! She stared at it, confused still.

Just then she heard the lock on the main door click.

Gabby grabbed the kitchen knife from the counter behind her back. And waited anxiously as the front door opened.

It was Matt.

"Hey! You're still up?" he asked surprised.

Gabby released a breath and let go off the knife in her hand.

"Yeah umm..."she began

"You weren't actually waiting up for me, were you?" he asked amused.

"No, I was just reading something and had dozed off" she explained.

"What happened here?" Matt asked nodding towards the kitchen floor as he deposited his bag and keys on the table.

"I dropped a glass " she lied easily feigning guilt.

Matt's brow furrowed "You hurt ?"

"Nope, all fine " She smiled.

"Good" he kissed her temple.

And added " Well, I'm exhausted and going to bed. You wanna keep reading?" he inquired.

"No, I'll just clean this up and be there in a bit"she answered.

"Cool" he nodded and left.

Gabby finished cleaning the kitchen and decided to pour herself a glass of water before calling it a day. Just as she took the first sip, she gasped. She could clearly see the reflection of a woman, reflected on the door of the refrigerator, standing right behind her. She was looking directly at her and had a faint smile on her face. Gabby stared at her. She could feel sweat dripping down from the side of her forehead. The glass in her hand was shaking as she tried to gather every ounce of courage within her. In a swift movement she turned around. No one. There was nobody there. The room was as empty as it had been all night. Gabby wasn't one to believe in such things, but she couldn't deny what she had just seen. "Gosh I need to sleep" she thought for the second time that night.

She made her way to the bedroom door and felt reassured to hear the slight sound of Matt's snoring. It weirdly calmed her. She was about to flick the light, to the hall ,off when she saw it again. There was definitely a woman lounging on her couch, facing away from her. She could clearly make out a mop of smooth, straight, silky, dark brown hair. That's when she heard her for the first time.

"If you decide to ignore me tonight, I'll understand, you know. I'd still be waiting here in the morning. I've got all the time in the world." came a stuffy voice. Gabby knew that voice. She knew it pretty well. Even though she was scared shitless, her curiosity took the better of her. Very cautiously she walked towards the couch. When she was at an arms distance from the couch facing away from her, the woman turned around.

"Hey, stranger!" she greeted her with a smirk. Gabby froze.

 **Who dat?! What do you think? Stick around for more :)**


	2. Hallucination or nah!

Hey guys sorry for the delay. But this will be a short chapter to keep the suspense going! Thanks a ton for such encouraging reviews. And so I hope that this chapter is not a disappointment to anyone. Please Let me know what you think!

"No way!"she thought. "It can't be. "

She stumbled backwards and grabbed the nearest table for support.

Sitting directly in front of her, gazing expectantly at her was the one woman Gabby couldn't imagine seeing again in her life. Hallie Thomas. Hallie was Matt's ex fiancé. But that wasn't the only reason for Gabby's daze. What was unnerving about her presence here tonight was the fact that Hallie had passed away about three years ago. Infact Dawson herself along with all of firehouse 51 had responded to that call. And yet here she was.

"You don't have to be scared of me, you know. I am harmless as a fly! No wait, flies can harm you. But you get the general idea, right?" Hallie said enthusiastically. Hallie had never liked Gabby. She never hated her, just never liked her either. Maybe it was the fact that Matt had always been very close to Gabby even when he was in a relationship with her(Hallie). And the reason she had chosen to haunt her was anyone's guess. You could see she was enjoying herself. Seeing that look on Gabby's face made it worth it.

Gabby scrunched up her face and pinched the bridge of her nose, hoping naively that when she opens her eyes hallie would somehow just disappear. She took in a few deep breaths. Gabby hesitantly opened one eye. She was still there. "God what's wrong with me?" Gabby whispered. Meanwhile Hallie was watching Gabby's struggles with a lot of amusement. Gabby needed to sit down. So tentatively, she took a seat on the nearest chair, never taking her eyes off Hallie.

"If you think you are hallucinating, you're not."Hallie pointed out.

"How would you know?"asked Gabby beside herself. She felt a mixture of disbelief and amusement her question. She could not believe she just spoke to ... to...whatever she was!A ghost. A figment of her own imagination. Whatever.

"Well let's see, You have been sleeping pretty well lately, haven't you? You are not drunk, are you? You are not on any meds or are not abusing one either? And you are not terribly stressed?"asked Hallie with mocking concern.

Gabby nodded and shook her head throughout her rant, ruling out all of those possibilities in her head. She couldn't deny, Hallie had a point.

"I still don't understand, how are you..."Gabby started to ask desperately but Hallie cut in.

"Oh I'am still dead, if that's what you mean. Don't get your hopes up."

"So I'am talking to... a...a.." she just couldn't say it out loud. She just couldn't.

"A ghost. Spirit. Boogeyman. Choose as you please" she offered.

"A freaking nightmares' more like it" Gabby muttered under her breath. Meanwhile, Hallie had stood up and moved to the window just staring blankly ahead.

"So, are you enjoying being in my place?" Hallie turned around and inquired teasingly.

"Excuse me..."

"Oh don't even pretend like you weren't always jealous of me, like you didn't want me out of the picture, like you weren't happy that I was gone for good"said Hallie accusingly.

Gabby rolled her eyes, " listen if you are here for some kind of vengeance or ...or"

Hallie turned her back to Gabby again, letting out a sharp laugh"Huh, vengeance? My death wasn't your fault. You were just a benefiter of the incident."

Gabby waited but she did not elaborate.

"So, you are not here to kill me?"she asked timidly.

"No" again no explanation.

"So what brings you back to this wretched world again?" Gabby wondered aloud.

Hallie turned around again only this time she had a gleam in her eye.

 **Hmm what do you think about that?! Did you expect this visitor? Let me know if anyone called it! Also, what do you think she is really here for ?**


	3. Revelations

"You" she answered simply.

"Me?!" Gabby wondered aloud.

" I think I can help you"stated Hallie , now slowly pacing the room.

"Help me? with what?"Gabby asked confused.

"Oh we'll figure something out "

"Wait. What gives you an idea that I need your help? Iam doing fine by myself, thanks"

" sure you are" said Hallie sarcastically.

"So tell me about this new girl" she asked curiously.

"New girl. What new girl?"questioned Gabby still confused.

"The girl Matt was just out to meet "Hallie stuttered.

"What? You've been following Matt? He was out for a council meeting. He wasn't meeting any girl "Gabby tried to clarify.

"Oh Gabby tell me are there only two people on this council? And what kind of council meeting takes place in a French restaurant?!" asked Hallie irritably.

"What the hell are you talking about?"Gabby exclaimed.

"Okay let's dial it back a little. Who is a Susan?"Hallie questioned.

"Susan?!" Gabby gulped.

"Yeah I only caught that part of her name as he just addresses her like that I guess" Hallie said making a disgusted face.

"Susan Weller?"quaked Gabby, not at all amused by hallie's antics.

"Yeah her, who is she?"

"She is a political consultant Matt hired to work with him"

"Political consultant?! I thought the guy was a fire fighter "

"He just recently contested the alderman elections in Chicago and won" Gabby explained.

The shock on hallie's face was apparent and amusing for Gabby but she dare not laugh because if all of this was a joke then it'll all be at her expense, no one else's.

"Long story short he's now a fire fighter and an alderman of the 52nd ward" Gabby continued (with a hint of pride) as Hallie still seemed lost.

"So what was it about Susan?" Gabby asked growing worried. For some reason that woman always filled her with a sense of worry since the day she first saw her. She didn't know what it was, but Susan always gave off a negative vibe to Gabby.

"What? Um yeah. Matt was having dinner with her at the restaurant" informed Hallie coming out of her rivière.

"But he told me, he had a council meeting" confessed Gabby in a whisper, suddenly doubting everything. Her mind instantly replayed that conversation she had had with Matt about this meeting. Trying to place if he had at all dropped any hint about meeting Susan. Nope. Nothing. She felt her stomach drop. Her head felt like it weighed a million tonnes.

"So he lied to you"Hallie derived. "Well I guess you do need my help after all. What's going on between you guys?"

"Gosh"Gabby's head was spinning. She closed her eyes with her hand on her forehead and tried to ease the creases her fingers found there. She knew that problems had started to creep up between them but this had gone way beyond that. When did things get so murky with them? What was she missing? And why hadn't she noticed anything?

"Be honest here with me Gabby. I have been following you guys for a couple of days now. I know that's creepy, but...And correct if I'am wrong but you haven't said more than 10 sentences to each other in that duration, have you? " said Hallie now kneeling in front of Gabby with concern on her face.

Gabby's brain seemed to have slowed down. She couldn't let even the idea of Matt cheating on her form in her head. He wouldn't. Gabby opened her eyes and let out a whelp due to Hallie's sudden proximity, before regaining her composure and answering in his defence "Well he has just been very busy."

"Really?! You believe that? You honestly believe that? You aren't talking and now you are lying to each other. Where do you think this is headed?"

"Okay! Why are you trying to interfere with my life anyway? This has got nothing to do with you. So just back off, okay!"Gabby burst out.

Hallie raised her arms in peace and took a step back.

After a few moments when she thought Gabby had calmed down a little, Hallie said " you know why you got all worked up there? It's because you know I'm right. You guys have problems and none of you are ready to address them. You are just basking in blissful ignorance. Until one day you'll wake up and realise what's going on and it will be too late." Gabby stared at Hallie menacingly. But she wasn't wrong. Gabby was aware of that.

"why do you care?"she muttered.

Hallie rolled her eyes.

"Look, I need to know so I can trust you. You trying to help me get my relationship back on track, doesn't make any sense to me. I'm mean you're my boyfriends ex, why would you wanna help me?" She asked desperately.

"I'm not doing this for you! I'm doing this for myself. I loved Matt and I couldn't give him what he wanted. Now he's got someone who can. And... And..."Her voice broke.

Gabby felt overwhelmed herself. She couldn't believe those words coming out of hallie's mouth but she did not, even for once, doubt the sincerity in them.

She loved Matt and she knew he loved her just as much. Then why was it so difficult for them to be happy for more than a couple of months. It was like something or the other was always lurking around the corner, ready to cause problems between them. Determined to pull them apart. Trying to test them, their patience, their love. She felt tired. Tired of fighting. Tired of doubting things. Tired of not being able to completely trust. Tired of being unsure. Tired of trying to avoid conversations. Tired of pretending like everything was okay. Tired from having not slept. She was just tired. It was like all the energy from her body had been sapped suddenly. She curled up on her chair, bringing her knees as close to her chest as comfort allowed. She didn't want to talk about it anymore. She didn't want to talk about anything anymore. She just wanted to numb herself. Think nothing. Feel nothing.

"Don't worry. You still got this."she heard Hallie say, as if from a very distant place. Her mind was shutting down and tiredness was taking over, as Gabby swiftly fell asleep.


	4. Gabby's Dilemma

**Hey guys! I'm really sorry for the delay in this chapter. Like really.**

 **I hope you enjoy this one!**

"Gabby hey!" Gabby heard Matt call. Or did she imagine it? Hmm. May be she did. A few moments later she felt something on the side of her face. Something soft. Skin?

"Baby?!" She heard him call again, louder this time. "Hmm?" she responded just to test the waters, still half asleep.

"We have shift today, you remember?"

She felt his thumb graze her cheek, ever so softly.

"Hmm" she responded more to the feeling of his hand on her face than the question.

"Gabby, we are gonna be late!".

She groaned. "Fine!" she moaned as she tried to shift from her position, now completely awake. God! That hurt! " Ow!" She cried, with her hand at the back of her neck. She knew it was going to be a rough day, already.

"You okay?" Matt asked her, sitting across from her with the a bowl of cereal in his hands.

"Sure yeah!" She answered through clenched teeth, trying to bite down the pain. She smiled at him feebly trying to reassure him.

As she got up from the table suddenly all the events from last night came rushing back to her. She gulped and looked around wildly for any sign of her. None. The place looked pretty clean. Nothing freaky. No sign of any Frankenstein-ish presence anywhere. Gabby prayed it was all a dream last night or her imagining things, it wasn't the best option but she'd take it considering the alternative. She relaxed a little at the possibility that last nights events might not have actually happened. Maybe it was just her mind fabricating new stuff for her to worry about. As if she didn't have enough of those already. She stuffed a couple of bread slices into the toaster and decided to head to the shower. Soon as she entered the bathroom, Gabby screamed. "Aaaaaaaaaaagh".

There in her bathroom, her bathtub, sat Hallie. Hallie from last night.

"Not exactly the kind of greeting I was hoping for but well, how did ya sleep" she asked cheerfully wiggling her eyebrows. Gabby held onto the bathroom door to slow her heart down lest she have a heart attack. "Gabby?"she heard Matt call from outside, as he came running inside the room, coming to a stop just outside the bathroom door. "Aw isn't that cute. Your boyfriend is so concerned about you, Gabby" Hallie mocked.

"Everything all right in there?" He asked concerned, knocking on the bathroom door.

Gabby glared at Hallie. "I'm fine. It was just a spider. Caught me off guard , sorry" she hollered back. "Spider? You couldn't come up with a better excuse?" Hallie asked raising her eyebrows. "Shut up"Gabby replied annoyed. "Okay" she heard Matt say as he retreated back to the kitchen table.

Gabby tried to relax a little. She took a few deep breaths. " I need to shower now or I'm going to be late for shift"she said sternly avoiding eye contact with Hallie.

Hallie nodded in reply but did not move. "So, do you mind?"she exclaimed mentioning her to the door when Hallie showed no sign of movement.

"No, I don't mind "

"Get out!"Gabby said forcibly.

"Okaaayee" Hallie sounded as she saw herself out of the bathroom. Gabby slammed the door in her face. Hallie heard Gabby start the shower inside. But she wasn't just going to leave her alone. Not yet. She had just spent last night all by herself making silly faces at a cat in the street outside. She had decided to call her Lucy. Lucy wasn't much interested in the faces Hallie made at her but watched her sleepily all night, just the same.

"So are you going to confront Matt about yesterday?" She asked over the noise of the shower. Gabby did not respond. She thought about it. She did not doubt Matt, period. But then she still needed a clarification from him for the previous night. What was he trying to hide from her. And why?

Hallie waited. After about five minutes Gabby stepped out of the bathroom all dressed but her face laced with worry. She looked directly at Hallie and rattled off desperately "I don't know what to do. It's not like I can talk to him about it without coming off as absolutely crazy! Because I'm not supposed to know what happened. And I can't let it slide either." Hallie placed her hands on Gabby's shoulders and said in a reassuring tone "Gabby that's why I am here to help you. You don't have to launch into an encounter mode just yet. You have to be smart about it. Just ask Matt how his meeting went last night. And we'll go from there and figure out what really is going on. Okay?" Gabby took a deep breath "okay".

As Gabby and Matt rode to the firehouse together, she felt a weird silence settle between them. It was like none of them had anything to say to the other. When in reality, it was the exact opposite. Talking about their feelings was never one of their strong points. And their relationship suffered frequently because of that. Between a lot of furtive looks towards Matt, Gabby was trying hard to come up with the best way to bring up his little rendezvous last night. Finally when she couldn't come up with anything convincing she decided to just wing it.

"So Mr Alderman, what's the consensus?"she started playfully. Trying to keep it light maybe her best bet right now.

Matt glanced sideways at her with furrowed eyebrows and a hint of amusement on his face. "Consensus? On?"

"On the proposal you had that meeting for yesterday"she watched him carefully gauging the change of expressions on his face. She was pretty sure she caught an expression of worry flash across his face for a moment before he collected himself.

"Ended in no result. There will be a debate on it again" he answered thoughtfully.

"Tomorrow?"

"Most likely"

Gabby could feel tears pool at the corner of her eyes. That's another day of loneliness for her. She could not remember the last time Matt and her spent some quality time together. Didn't he ever think about that. Surely she can't be the only one missing that. Realisation hit Gabby full force in that moment. They were getting worse and if something is not done to save them right now, it may well be the start of an extremely rocky path for them. She felt choked with emotions. Knowing that if she opened her mouth right now nothing but sobs would come out.

 **A/N- please let me know what you think and if you'd like me to make some changes either story wise or if you'd like to see more interaction between certain characters. All ideas are welcome. Hope you all have a fantastic day!**


	5. Been a long time coming

The shift remained relatively uneventful for the members of firehouse 51, calls wise. Not that they didn't appreciate the lack of emergencies but it was just like a dull and boring day at the office.

In the evening however Gabby felt some respite at learning that it was supposed to be her shift at Molly's that day. She had completely forgotten about that especially with all the craziness that surrounded her for the last couple of days. At least she wouldn't have to be alone at home she thought thankfully.

At the end of the shift, surprisingly, Matt offered to drop her home on his way to the council meeting. Gabby couldn't stop feeling skeptical at this sudden change but accepted the offer anyway. They were going to have work at this and maybe Matt was trying already.

On the way she made him stop at the grocery store "Hey do you mind pulling up over here just for a sec" she said urgently.

"Sure, what do you want?"

She ran out of the car without any explanation. Five minutes later he saw her running back with a several tubs of her favourite ice cream, and some of Matt's too, cradled in her arms. Matt looked at her questioningly.

"Sorry, was running low on these!" she answered apologetically while putting her seat belt back on. He let out a chuckle and shook his head at her antics.

He missed her he thought knowing deep down in his heart that she missed him too but was too stubborn to voice it to him. What really sucked for them was that he literally had almost all of his days planned to the last minute. His duties to the firehouse, his most beloved job, and now to being an alderman were consuming his life. But the sad part was he couldn't do much to change that. Matt wasn't the kind of guy who could ever bear to fall short of his duties. They would have to go through this he thought grudgingly. All they could possibly do was to make most of the time they did get together.

As they reached their apartment Matt helped Gabby unload the buckets of ice cream from his truck.

"Well, thanks" Gabby huffed as she stuffed the last tub into the refrigerator.

He smiled sweetly at her " You're welcome". She seemed unsure of what to do or say next almost hesitant, he wondered what was going on with her. Matt wasn't used to seeing this side of Gabby who he knew only to be fierce and unapologetic not distant and vulnerable.

He acted on his instinct next closing the distance between them by marching up to her, he grabbed her face between his hands and stared deep into her eyes. His eyes searched hers. All the while hoping to convey a lot of unsaid things to her which could not be said right then for lack of time. He then leaned closer to her and left a soft and lingering kiss on her lips that was full of emotion as well as want at the same time.

Gabby was close to tears as Matt touched his lips to her cheek next and whispered " I'll see you later ". She could barely choke out a coherent sentence before Matt turned and vanished out of the door.

She couldn't stop the tears that rolled down her smooth cheeks. Of course they were happy tears. Somehow for this was a conformation of their love for each other. She knew it. Knew Matt would never hurt or cheat her. For the first time in a long time Gabby felt incredibly happy. She did not know what caused Matt to act like that but she was so grateful he did. She texted him before leaving for Molly's :

Thanks for that ! Heading to Molly's now. I love you.

She did not have to wait too long for his reply:

Been a long time coming ;) love you too

She felt a grin etch itself into her face ,the kind you have when you are a teenager and just a text from your crush leaves you with a, some would say 'stupid', grin all day that you just can't seem to wipe off even if you tried!

The happy wave she was riding didn't hold for long though and gave in as her mind soon remembered his lie. He still hadn't told her about the dinner he had had with Susan and how that council meeting lie had turned into a night out at a fancy restaurant with another woman for him. And what about the meeting he had just walked out to attend? Was that a real meeting? Or just another date with Ms political consultant cum relationship wrecker Susan? Gabby just could not understand why he was lying to her. And if there was something worth lying for then why did he just kiss her. Why? Her heart slowly crept back into the dark hole that had consumed her the past couple of days. She needed those questions answered. Needed to know why she was being lied to. Maybe she should just confront him tonight. But what would she say if he asked where she got the information from. No, she couldn't tell him about Hallie. Gabby herself was still struggling with the mere idea of Hallie's presence around her, she couldn't imagine having to explain that to someone else.

So then there it was. The dead end. She had again successfully rejected all the possible ways of getting her relationship back on track. God! Where was this leading her she thought desperately.

At Molly's

It was past peak hours for Molly's which meant the bar was not as crowded as an hour ago and the bartenders could afford to stop and have a few chats with their customers and friends.

"Hermann! what do you think about rearranging our liquor cabinet? That way we would know what we need to stock up on too!"Gabby called brightly over the slow music playing in the background. She needed to find a way to keep herself busy and out of the apartment. Working extra time at Molly's seemed like the only safe option towards that goal.

"I already know what we are running low on. You don't need to rearrange the whole cabinet for that and risk the safety of some of these rare spirits" he said pointing to a few favourite drinks of his. " Ask the expert!" He continued this time pointing to himself, his face contorted with pride. Sylvie had joined them now taking a seat opposite to Gabby, listening to Hermann boast with amusement.

Gabby pouted.

"Okay then at least let me work here tomorrow as well" At this Hermann quirked his brow questioningly.

"I just need to get out of my apartment. Haven't got much to do there. Please?" requested Gabby.

"You don't need to be pleading to me for that, Dawson. I love volunteers"

"Thanks Hermann"

"You're more than welcome, kid!" With that Hermann walked off to tend to customers at the other end of the bar.

As she poured Sylvie another drink, she noticed Hallie taking a seat next to Brett, much to her chagrin. She dare not acknowledge her presence here right now.

"So you need to get out, huh?" Sylvie asked taking a sip from her drink.

"Yeah, you know how everybody's been trying to keep busy, working their asses off these days. It's catching up. Might as well cash in on the trend"

"Casey?!" she gathered.

" He's busy tomorrow too. Some meeting about the status of security in the area." She shrugged rolling her eyes at the starry ceiling.

"You should really talk to him you know" she suggested feeling sorry for her friend.

"Yeah" she chuckled humourlessly.

"Tell her" whispered Hallie nodding her head towards Sylvie.

"Tell her what's going on!"she continued.

Gabby ignored her and remained silent.

"And you know you can swing by my place anytime you want or just give me a call for a night out" Sylvie said sincerely keeping a hand on Gabby's arm.

Gabby was so grateful for a friend like her. Of course she missed Shay everyday more than she can ever put into words. But Sylvie had made that hole in her heart hurt a lot less.

"I know, thanks"she smiled at her friend. Meanwhile Hallie mocked them silently by making gagging noises and sappy weird faces at them. Gabby had never seen Hallie behave so childishly before. She was better when she was alive, she thought smiling to herself.

Brett finished her drink and took their leave as it was getting late. Almost everybody in the bar followed suit until within half an hour the bar was almost empty save for Gabby.

And Hallie.

Gabby and Hallie.

A/N :

please review and let me know what you think. Have a great day!


	6. You and me

"So, What's going on?"Hallie asked. She waited for a reply which never came. " you know the conflict going on in your mind right now shows on your face. So FYI, you are not doing a great job if you are trying to hide it from people"she pointed out.

Gabby sighed reminding herself that Hallie was the only one she could share all this with. She thought about it for a minute before replying "Matt was nice to me today" she mumbledsoftly.

"Yeah I saw that"

Gabby's head snapped up and a look of shock made its way onto her face"What do you mean, you saw that ?"

"I was there "

"But I didn't see you"

"You weren't interested in seeing anyone other than the only guy in that room"

"That's not possible!"

"You know this conversation is getting really boring, I was there okay? Just maybe not in your range of vision but yes, so get over it!"

Gabby opened her mouth to retaliate but then closed it again since she couldn't score up with anything good enough. She got back to cleaning up sporting a scowl on her face.

"So what are you going to do next?"

Gabby thought for a moment and replied "I can't confront him but I need to know why he lied to me about Susan"

"How do you plan to do that?"

"I don't know "

"That's a great plan!" She exclaimed sarcastically. Gabby rolled her eyes. Silence settled between them. Both lost in their own thoughts.

After several minutes Hallie spoke "You know how I promised you I would help you get your relationship back on track. I'm going to deliver on my promise now!"She said biting her lower lip and raising her eyebrows, still deep in thought.

Gabby looked at her slightly alarmed"what do you mean?"

Suddenly as if possessed, she pranced out of the bar without another word. Gabby wanted to laugh at the irony but she was worried about what was going through Hallie's mind.

"Aye, don't harm anything or anybody please! And don't attract attention to yourself!" She called in her wake. She heard a distant "Sure" as she stared at the door.

Just then Gabby's phone rang. It was a text message from Matt :

Hey I just got free. Where are you? Still at Molly's ?

Still at Molly's, just about to finish up : she replied back

Okay if I come pick you up? .

"Okay :)"

The main door of the bar clicked again making Gabby look up. It was Matt.

"Hey"

"Hey, are you closed or can I still request a drink?"he asked hopefully as he kissed her briefly.

Gabby narrowed her eyes at him playfully, trying to determine if he was joking or being serious. He looked tired to her like he had been working day and night at something without a wink of sleep. She smiled then mentioned him towards the counter "Come on!" He followed gladly.

She poured him his favourite beer as he took a seat at the counter. Handing him the drink she came to stand next to him and reached out to comb her fingers through his hair.

"Long day?" She asked him softly.

Matt took a sip of his drink and shut his eyes for a moment revelling in the feeling of her soft hand in his hair.

"Yeah" he sighed finally.

"Been having those a lot recently" he continued as he finished his drink in one big gulp. Gabby felt sorry for him. All the while she had been thinking about how all of this(their time apart due to their duties) was affecting their relationship and how it was making her feel lonely. Never for once had she stopped to think about what Matt must be going through. This alderman thing surely added more responsibility on his shoulders on top his firefighter duties. Not to mention the emotional baggage they were still carrying and trying to deal with after the loss of their baby not too long ago. She smiled at him and rested her hand on his cheek, caressing it.

Matt looked into her eyes intently wondering what was going through her mind. He could sense some amount of hesitance within her and frankly had no desire to know what it could be about as he knew it would only reflect on what a terrible partner he had been to her recently. There was not much he could about that anyway. Their situation was testing their relationship again. He just wanted her to know how it was making him uncomfortable too. That she was not alone. That he will try to do all in his power to not let this ruin the one thing he prized most in his life. Not again.

"Why don't you join me? We'll make a toast!"he asked her as she refilled his glass.

"Toast to what?"

"Get yourself a drink first"

Grabbing another glass from the counter, she poured herself her favourite brand of whisky.

"So who or what are we toasting to?"

"You and me" he answered simply raising his glass. Gabby stared, wondering what this was all about , trying to read his mind and failing miserably. She clinked her glass with his anyway.

After a few drinks and the general inquiry about each other's day, they fell silent. Grabbing her hand on the counter, he searched her eyes.

Their drinks had spun its magic on them and was making them lightheaded. Gabby briefly wondered how they'd get home since neither of them was in the right state to drive. Maybe they'd have to walk back home. What a tipsy walk would that be she thought and smiled to herself.

Matt caught her smiling and stared not stopping for any inquiries. Still no words. It wasn't a weird kind of silence. It was the kind where they were just happy to be in each other's presence and didn't need words. Knowing that if they continued talking they would soon enter into an emotion fuelled conversation which they wanted to avoid but at the same time were desperate to have.

Suddenly, Matt pulled at her hand gently leaving Gabby confused. He still had his eyes on her and without blinking pulled again. Gabby complied to the force this time round, stood up and walked closer to him. When she was near enough he pulled again, this time in a downward direction, bringing her to sit sideways on his lap. He then moved to wedge his face in the crook of her neck, breathing in her scent for a while before kissing her there gently. Gabby let out a breathy moan "Matt " she whispered softly.

"I've missed you" he breathed against her skin causing goosebumps to erupt all over her. She still had no idea where this was going but she didn't care. Any sort of doubt that had harboured Gabby's mind yesterday had been completely washed over by the alcohol. She did not for once feel weird or conflicted as she knew whatever was going on between them she would never get tired of this man's arms around her and that she had always belonged there.

Matt then wrapped his arms around her bringing her as close to him as physically possible, grabbed her face unceremoniously and kissed her. At first the kiss was tentative like he was gauging her reaction. She did not disappoint though, she couldn't, not in her current state anyway and kissed him back with passion matching his own.

Her hand snaked to the back of his neck and caressed it all the while as she knew he liked it. Meanwhile his were running up and down her arms and back alternatively.

They had both missed each other more than they could care to admit. Their bodies had missed their touches.

Gabby then changed her position, without braking eye contact, to facing him completely, legs hanging on either side of his before attacking his lips with hers again.

Matt slid his hands into her sweet smelling hair where he had always found home. He had had this thought earlier that if he ever bought a house, this is what he would want it to smell like. Her hair.

Slowly but steadily they rid each other of their respective clothing and made love on the bar counter before falling into an uncomfortable but content sleep in each other's arms.

A/N:

So?! Do let me know what you think, Please.

Also, a little heads up, there might be some delay before the next chapter as my cousin is getting married. So, apologies in advance!


	7. Another shitty day

If you could watch her life this morning on mute, fast forwarded and in black and white it would be just as hilarious as a Chaplin movie. Watching two naked people wake up together, with a hangover, confused, in an unexpected place, stumbling across the room in a mad dash for clothes and the sneaky escape out of a bar in the early hours of the day might have made a great scene for a comedy movie. But probably not for Gabby Dawson or Matt Casey.

They had impulsively avoided so much as a look at each other since waking up together on the floor of Molly's. Trying their very best to avoid having a conversation each knew they had to have. Fate had kind of helped them achieve that so far as Matt had been summoned to the firehouse by chief Boden for a meeting before the start of shift(much to his relief) and Gabby was left to go home, change and get ready for the day.

On shift

One thing was for sure, this wasn't turning out to be a good day for Gabby. Till now three reasons:

1\. They had learned that morning that chief Boden had taken a weeks furlough to attend to some undisclosed personal business(Hence the officers meeting in the morning).

2\. Boden's arch nemesis chief Riddle had been called in to replace him.

3\. It was turning out to be an unusually hectic day for the men and women of firehouse 51.

They had responded to atleast four calls already. All road accidents. Which also meant that she had had no interaction with Matt about the previous night or anything else really other than at calls.

It was nearly 7 in the evening. With dirt all over their bodies, tiredness stretching out over all of their faces, shoulders slumped, stomachs growling( they had to skip lunch for a call), and heavy eyes they entered the firehouse, hoping for a quiet night.

After dinner, Gabby saw Matt exiting the Chiefs office with a scowl in his face and heading straight to his office.

She followed him.

"Hey, everything alright?"

He was sitting slumped in his chair with a hand to his forehead, looking utterly exhausted. He shut his eyes closed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"He is trying to wind me up" He said softly trying contain his anger.

Gabby raised her brows in question.

"He wants the all the incident reports, for this month, filled in according to a new format by tomorrow"

The current Chiefs animosity with Boden had placed the lieutenants of firehouse 51 at the receiving end of chief Riddles fury.

Gabby felt sorry for him. They had all had a tough day and to pile that much amount of work onto someone after that, let alone an officer, just seemed evil.

"So, Severide...?"

He nodded in answer and glanced back at Severide's office, where the squad lieutenant was buried in piles of incident reports stacked left, right and centre.

"If there's anything we can do to help..."

He shook his head too tired to answer with words but muttered a soft "Thanks" in response just the same.

Later on shift

Pretending to check her email while lying on her bed, Gabby was deep in thought. With the amount of work Matt had on his hands, she doubted if he would be home at all, at least for a couple of nights and she didn't want to spend another night alone in that apartment. She could crash at Brett's or Antonio's. But the prospect of having to explain the situation to her brother would be too much of a hassle for her. It'll have to be Brett.

Craning her neck a little to check on Matt, she found him still surrounded with his paperwork and in the grips of a very foul mood.

She got off her bed and knocked on his door. She needed to at least inform him.

He looked up and mentioned her in.

"Hey, I was thinking about spending the next couple of days at Brett's"

His brow furrowed as he processed the statement in his head. Gabby waited.

"So, You won't be home at all until next shift?"his voice groggy with exhaustion.

"Well I'll need to pick up a few things..."

"So why are you telling me all this right now?"he asked her irritably.

Gabby was taken aback, she hadn't expected that response. Granted he was having a pretty shitty day but that was no reason to treat her like that. It's not like it was her fault.

She really did not want to take this conversation any further when her mouth decided to disobey her and she heard herself say:

"You are hardly at home anymore, so..."

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked turning in his chair to face her.

"Ha!" She let out a sarcastic laugh. That's cute!he's tying to play the dumb card again, she thought.

"Gabby, you..."

"Matt, don't. Just don't" she warned.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. When was the last we had a proper conversation? I have no idea where you are anymore. I don't know when or if you will be home every night. I don't know if you have had dinner or how your day was or what's going on with you. I don't even know who you are anymore" she continued, her voice breaking at the end. Anger was rising up fast and fiery inside both of them.

Matt sighed deeply & hung his head, defeated. He ran his hand across his head before making eye contact with Gabby.

"You very well know the reason behind it. Incase you haven't noticed I have been extremely busy lately. It's not like I'am having a vacation here" he retorted.

"But that doesn't give you the licence to forget and ignore the people in your life" Gabby choked, a deep, dull pain was rising in her chest, making it hard to breathe.

"This is ridiculous! You think it is easy managing three jobs and social implications that come with it. You think I'm enjoying all of this?" He asked.

"Then why are you still doing it?" implored Gabby.

"You wanted me to do it! I can't just back out now because you can't handle it"he said bitterly.

She couldn't stop the tears that escaped at the corner of her eyes.

Matt looked at her with another deep sigh.

"What do you want me to do? Just quit!"

"I don't know" she let out miserably, tears were falling hard and fast down her face now.

"Well then let me know when you do" he dismissed, going back to his work.

Heartbroken, Gabby stormed out of his office with a tear streaked face.

End of shift

There had to be some kind of record for how early someone could get up and ready on a cold, cold, rainy day. And if there was, Gabriella Dawson was giving it serious competition that morning. Having been amongst the first ones to wake up, she was now bathed, changed and currently busy packing her bag in the locker room.

Why the hell was she in such a hurry you ask? Well, if she wasn't, all her efforts since the crack of dawn would go in vain if she had to face one particular member of firehouse 51, Matt Casey, who also happened to be her boyfriend and the reason for her foul mood. She wanted nothing to do with him, at-least until her anger cooled down. After the argument they had had and the tiring shift they had served yesterday, the day had definitely made her "days-that-totally-sucked" list. Gabby was so glad it was morning. Which did not bring much respite to her. She had woken up with a pounding headache for the second time in a row that week. Clearly a result of last nights' emotional outpouring. She'd have to take something for that, she thought miserably, as she jogged out of the firehouse. Gabby seemed to be channeling Houdini's spirit as she sneaked out and nobody, absolutely nobody saw her slip out.

She drove to the apartment, that she shared with Matt,in record time. She was sure she would have definitely earned a speeding ticket if it was a little later in the day. On reaching her destination, she did a general clean up of the room, grabbing a few things that she might need for the next couple of days.

She was about ready to leave when she thought about making herself a cup of coffee. Her headache wasn't getting any better. She brewed a particularly strong coffee hoping that it would alleviate some of her pain.

She sipped her coffee in complete silence and it seemed to be working, the caffeine was kicking in, making her head a little lighter. As she scooped up her cup

from the table and moved to wash it, two things happened in quick succession;

1- "Hey there! " came a sharp voice from behind her, which made Gabby jump

2- she dropped the cup, she was holding onto the floor.

She turned around to witness Hallie Thomas take a seat at her coffee table. Gabby groaned inwardly, shut her eyes and desperately prayed "gosh! not today!"

Having completely ignored her visitor she went onto clearing the the mess that was now spread out across her kitchen floor.

"So, you missed me?" Hallie asked in a flirty tone.

Gabby ignored her again.

"Ouch !" she cried as her hand caught on a jagged piece of glass, drawing blood.

"Hey easy there, don't be so excited "

Gabby cursed and ran to retrieve the first aid box from the bedroom. This wasn't the kind of start she had wished for that morning, especially after the previous day. She needed to get out of there before Matt came back. With a bandaged hand she returned to the kitchen, where Hallie still sat, absentmindedly picking at the fruits on the table.

" judging by your absolutely delightful mood, I'd say you are really mad at someone." Hallie said sarcastically.

Gabby rolled her eyes and sighed. Of course she knew. She might have been standing next to them last night for all gabby knew.

"He'll come around, you know. You all had a really tough day yesterday. He was probably just frustrated"

"Yeah. But Like you said, we all had a tough day. It wasn't just him. No one cares how I have felt for the past few months. "

"You made him do it, you know. He's upto his neck in there with all the work. You can't entirely put the blame on him"

"There it is again. That same argument! I just asked him to do it because I thought there was no one better for the job. I should be hanged for that! God!"

"You are being dramatic"

She rolled her eyes again.

"Yeah that's me" Gabby scoffed.

"Talk to him. Fighting with each other is not what you guys need right now. You need to pay more attention to each other. Spend some time together. You can't let this bury you guys again"

"I'm getting late." She whispered in a small voice, heaved her bags onto her shoulder and marched out of the apartment.

 **A/N-**

 **Uh-oh, well that didn't go so well, did it? Ah! Hopefully things will get better soon.**

 **Also,**

 **I'am extremely sorry for the delay in updating this chapter. A lot of things went wrong for me, all at the same time, d'you know what I mean?**

 **So, anyway, Hope you like this chapter. Review?! Pretty please !**

 **A little heads up, next chapter will be in Matt's POV?**


	8. Problems and solutions

(In Matt's Point of view)

Matt Casey needed a beer, a chilled, mind numbing beer. His brain felt like he had been cursed with the constant presence of a thousand bees around his head, which left him with nothing more than a dense buzz inside. He just had so much going through his mind right now. He had been cornered by problems from every section of his life.

There were problems at the firehouse with the new, although temporary(Thank heavens!), chief who was replacing Boden.

Then things were never really going well with the alderman work since he was still a "newbie", something that his relatively older colleagues never got tired of reminding him about every now and then. He was still learning the rules of the game everyday.

Plus, he was already running at-least a week behind on the construction job he had been working on for a month.

To top it all, things were getting from bad to worse in his personal life. He hadn't been able to spend time with his girlfriend at all for the past month. He could see it was taking a toll on her, after all they were still recovering from the loss of their unborn child. He knew she needed him. Hell, he knew he needed her.

But his duties to his various jobs didn't spare him much time for anything. Just last night, the scarcity of their time together had lead to a heated exchange between them and it was quite apparent to him that Gabby was mighty pissed. Probably rightly so. She shouldn't have been on the receiving end of his ire no matter what the circumstances. God! How was he going to fix that, he thought desperately. He needed to see her. Apologise. Tell her he missed her. Let her know he was going to make it right.

He couldn't let this go on any further.

He also realised he needed to prioritise his life, big time. He had to act, now, if he was to save their relationship from meeting the same fate as the last time. They were in too deep to simply let it go and feed their egos and stubborn heads.

But Gabby wasn't going to let him get his way that easy, she had made sure to make him work for it, as she had sneakily left the firehouse before anyone else that morning, robbing Matt of the opportunity to at least say sorry.

As he jogged out to his car from the station, he couldn't help but notice a red Chevy pick up truck parked just opposite to the firehouse. He had seen that car before multiple times in the last couple of weeks. He was sure he had seen the same car parked outside Molly's a couple of days back when he had to pick Gabby. Maybe he was being paranoid. Shaking his head he discarded every thought involving the mysterious car and tried to focus on the more important thing right now.

Hoping he would be able to catch her at their apartment before she left for Brett's, he raced to their apartment.

To his dismay he was greeted by a deserted house on his arrival. He had missed her again. His shoulders slumped as he dragged himself inside and dropped his bag beside the table and the keys in the bowl.

"Gabby, baby" he called out desperately, hoping against hope for an answer.

Silence .

Gutted, Matt decided to catch up on some sleep to help relieve his headache before heading to the construction job.

After construction job

It was late in the evening as Matt wrapped up his work at the construction site. He had tried to make up for lagging behind schedule by working an extra couple of hours. Needless to say he was beyond tired. But he had to attend to another business before he could even think of sleep. His most important business.

He didn't bother to drop his construction gear back home before heading for Brett's because his chances for being allowed entry into a colleagues house that late in the evening looked fairly bleak. But if there was one thing you could say about Matt Casey, it was that he never lost hope and always gave it a try.

Standing atop the stairs outside the dark wooden door, shivering from the cold with his hands deep in his pockets and bracing for the worst, he knocked.

After a couple of minutes of waiting, to his immense relief, he heard the lock click from the inside. He was greeted by a surprised Brett.

"Casey?"

"Hi, um, how are ya?"he tried.

Brett's eyebrows furrowed in confusion before she muttered "Fine" She clearly understood that was not what he was really here for.

"Is she in?"he asked hopefully.

Brett glanced inside the house looking unsure of what to say.

"Please, I need to talk to her"he added importantly.

He could see the conflict raging in her blue eyes.

At last, caving in, she held the door open for him and pointed him to her balcony.

"She's been there all day"

Moving forward to where Brett had pointed, he realised he had not given the slightest amount of thought to what he was going to say to Gabby. He'll just have to wing it.

As he approached the balcony he stopped and stood framed at the doorway for a while to admire the perfect vision in front of him.

Gabby was curled up on a circular couch at the end of the balcony looking out at a small section of the Chicago skyline that was visible from the building. Her skin was radiant and glowed in the soft light cast by a string of fairy lights hanging over the edge and the ceiling of the tastefully decorated balcony.

She was staring at the night sky, facing away from him, deep in thought.

That wasn't good. Even in a bad mood she looked gorgeous, he thought, but pissed. Gorgeously pissed.

She shivered slightly in the cold night as a chilly gust of wind passed by. Finally mustering up the courage he stepped forward. Here goes nothing...

"Gabby?" he tried softly.

She jerked out of her reverie and looked up at him, a look of surprise registering on her features. It hadn't escaped his notice that she had pulled the blanket, that was draped over her legs, upto her chest. Reflex action perhaps? It was like she she trying to protect herself from him. It broke his heart to see that.

"Matt!" she acknowledged.

"I thought you won't be home tonight"

This was very well turning out to be the night where Matt would find out exactly how much he had screwed up. She hadn't even expected him to turn up to their apartment that night. Wow. Had he been that ignorant? A wave of guilt washed over him.

" I made you think that, didn't I? I'm such a jerk, Gabby "he admitted softly.

Her face etched with confusion as Matt walked closer to her and crouched down in front of her, silently taking her hand into his own.

He searched her face and hoped that she could see the sincerity in his eyes.

"I'd like to apologise to you. Mainly for my absence. I know the past few months have been difficult for you and my attitude didn't exactly make it any easier. Even then, you still went on about your day without any complains. And I was too blind to see it. But I have just been so caught up in all this work and the new responsibilities...I...I'm not trying to make excuses here. But honestly Gabby, I hope you know that if I could do anything to change that, I would. I'm just caught between a rock and a hard place right now. "

Gabby nodded weakly, not trusting herself to speak just yet. Her eyes were wide with surprise and brimmed with tears, clearly she had not expected this.

Matt waited. When she finally found her voice she croaked,"I'am sorry too. I didn't speak to you about this because I knew I was the reason for all these problems. If I hadn't convinced you to run for alderman none of this would have happened. You are basically working three jobs now and that's on me"

"Hey now come on, you can't blame yourself for that. I could have handled things differently, I should have. I'm sorry"

She ran her hand along the side of his face lovingly and caressed his cheek.

"I desperately need to sort out my priorities. I can't risk loosing the only thing that makes my life worth living. You" Matt admitted to her.

She gave him a teary smile which he returned.

"I love you"she whispered.

He reached up to cup the back of her neck with one hand and left a searing kiss on her lips"And I you" he said panting.

As Gabby brought her hand to his face, Matt noticed it was bandaged.

"What happened?"grabbing her injured hand in his.

"Oh Nothing" she dismissed.

Matt raised his brows in question.

"I just dropped a glass" she sheepishly admitted.

"Been dropping a lot of glasses lately?"

She rolled her eyes in reply and didn't stretch the topic out any further. She could not possibly come closer to explain to him the reason behind it. She cursed Hallie inwardly.

Matt looked at her and thought he almost caught a look of secrecy on Gabby's face, like she was hiding something.

"Lie down with me?"she pleaded, desperate to change the topic.

Before he could answer or act, his phone rang. Way to ruin the moment, Matt sighed heavily. Gabby smiled and ran her hands along the side of his face lovingly and kissed his temple.

"Answer it. I'll make you coffee"she whispered to him.

"Hello. Hello... He...helloooo"

"Who was it ?" Gabby asked as she returned with a steaming cup of coffee in her hands.

"Caller id said Susan wheeler but no one answered"he shrugged.

"I don't know what she wants from me."he was still staring at his phone in confusion.

"Susan" he clarified reading the confused expression on Gabby's face.

"What do you mean?" She implored.

"I feel like she's trying to lead me somewhere and I am not sure I wanna follow " he sighed.

"Like last to last week she convinced me to meet some top bureaucrats at an expensive fancy restaurant. Only they didn't turn up citing some of the most petty excuses. I don't think it was just a coincidence"

So that's what went down, Gabby thought, relief washing over her like a high tide. That relief was immediately replaced with guilt for doubting Matt at all, overlapped with anger towards hallie for talking her into it. She knew he wouldn't betray her trust in him. That was not the man she had come to know for about eight years now. And that was definitely not the man she fell in love with.

"I'm planning to come clean to her and tell her straight up that I have no desire to achieve anymore positions in this field than I already have. I'am happy where I am at."

"You sure?"

"Absolutely!"he confirmed

She smiled at him"You are the best person I have ever known, you know that?"

She pulled him, by the hand, towards the did not need telling twice and slipped comfortably next to her on the couch. They laid in each other arms in silence just gazing at the twinkling first few stars of the night.

"You know Shay must be shaking her head at us right now from up there" she heaved a deep sigh, while Matt chuckled softly, before continuing "I miss her".

Softly kissing her forehead and then resting his chin on her head, he whispered " I know you do"

After a few moments of silence another thought occurred to Gabby.

"Matt, d'you...do you think..."she hesitated and stopped herself.

"What?"Matt prodded gently.

She looked at him intently for a while and then returned her gaze back to the dark night sky, her eyes watery " D'you think...our baby's up there too"

Matt looked at her completely heart broken and shocked. She was still gazing at the sky steadily while fresh tears continued to pool in her eyes. She was searching the skies for it. He couldn't stop the tears cascading down his own face before he joined her silent vigil.

"There" he said pointing to the brightest star in the sky. He held her tighter against him as she sobbed into his shoulder. He kissed her forehead again as her sobs turned down a notch. He didn't know how long they had been there, just holding each other, crying for their loss.

Matt hadn't realised she had fallen asleep in his arms until she shivered in the cold night and cuddled still closer to him. He pulled the blanket further up her body, draped his jacket over her sleeping form and drifted to the most peaceful and content sleep in a long time.

A/N-

So?! How how did find it? Let me know and please review ❤️

Special thanks to all the guest reviewers, I see you and I hear you and I appreciate it❤️


	9. Your boy is being followed, Gabby!

Before I start this chapter, sincere thanks to all the guest reviewers and jewel2687, belletane and coconut for all the encouraging comments on this story❤️❤️❤️ I hope you enjoy this chapter too!

If waking up in the most unusual places ever became a trend, Gabriella Dawson would have to be the pioneer for it. She certainly held a pretty impressive catalogue. This time it was in a balcony of a pretty high rise Chicago building. Things like cold and wind couldn't possibly be matters of any sort of bother for her, as long as she was sharing the experience with the man she loved. Stirring in the arms of her boyfriend she huddled closer to him without paying even the smallest amount of attention to cold morning air and the soft drizzle that had now started.

As the light drizzle picked up speed and turned into a shower, Matt Casey jerked awake.

"Oh my god is it raining" he asked in a groggy voice, squinting around.

"Hmm" was all he earned from Gabby as she still lay there completely unaffected.

"Gabby! It's freaking raining! Let's go inside" he jumped into a fervent mode, shaking Gabby by the arm.

"What?" She asked annoyed.

"Are you listening to me?It's raining outside come on!" he had to physically half drag, half carry her inside.

He couldn't believe the look on Gabby's face, she actually looked annoyed from being dragged away from the rain. Having already left the balcony, they were still completely drenched now.

"What the hell...!" He exclaimed picking at his wet clothes.

"Wait I'll get you a change" Gabby offered waving her hand. Since Gabby still frequented Brett's apartment even after her reconciliation with Matt, she always kept a change of clothes for both of them in her drawer there.

"Here" she muttered coming back with a fresh pair of jeans and a t-shirt for him.

"Thanks" he said sincerely.

"It was so nice outside" she whispered staring longingly at the balcony.

Matt couldn't help the incredulous look that crossed his face and decided to slip into bathroom to change before Gabby came up with any new ideas.

"Morning early birds!" A bathed and dressed Brett greeted them.

"Speak for yourself" Gabby smirked.

"Gabby you are dripping wet. Please go get changed. You'll catch a cold or something"she concernedly told her friend. Gabby rolled her eyes.

What was it with these people? Nature is supposed to be enjoyed and not something to run away from. They needed to lighten up, big time, she thought. Before she has to hear anymore speeches Gabby decided to head to her room and get changed.

"Coffee?" Sylvie asked her friend as she dragged herself back into the room, clearly unhappy with the dry, warm and comfortable clothes she had on now.

"Yes please, thank you"

"Ah, Babe I have to go" Matt called from the other side of the room.

"Already?" She pouted, walking upto him.

"I have to finish those reports for chief riddle before next shift. And then attend a council meet. Im sorry, baby. But I'll be home early, I promise" he whispered the last two words for her with extra emphasis.

Of course she understood, they had spoken about it last night, reluctantly she nodded. Without any warning she grabbed the front of his shirt into her fists and pulled him roughly against her, engaging him in a passionate kiss.

Matt responded with matching fervour.

Brett cleared her throat loudly "Guuuuuys!"

They broke apart with silly grins etched onto their faces and mouthed a "sorry" to Brett in unison.

"I'll see you later"Matt whispered with a last kiss to her temple as he slipped out.

Gabby grabbed her warm coffee cup and joined Sylvie on the couch. *sneeze*

"bless you!"

"Thanks" grumbled Gabby, continuing "Don't give me that loo...*sneeze*"

"Yep" muttered Brett chuckling at Gabby's expense. Gabby tried to hide her guilty face behind her coffee cup and cursed inwardly. She took a sniff of the warm coffee in hopes that it will calm her nose down. When, " Ewww that does not help at all. Sorry I can't have that"

"Well Gabby I hate to break it to you but you've officially come down with the cold here"

Gabby squinted her eyes at Brett but before she come up with a response, *sneeze*

"Well there you go. I think you should take the day off and rest today, I'm sure Hermann will understand "

" No, no, no. I can't, I volunteered to work an extra shift. I practically begged him for it. He'd kill me"

"But Gabby, he..."

*sneeze*

"I'll have to Brett, until Herman himself practically shoves me out of the bar"

Gabby had woken up feeling extremely tired and of course with the headache which had taken a particular liking to her for the past week. She felt like she hadn't slept at all. The cold had made her head and nose feel heavy and congested. Truth be told, she didn't think she could really function at all today. Taking the day off might actually make her feel a little better. But she didn't have the guts to ask Hermann since she had requested him a couple of days back, to let her work today even when it wasn't her day for duty.

Reluctantly she dragged herself out of the apartment and drove to Molly's.

Christopher Herman was amongst the kindest souls you could ever have the pleasure of calling a friend and Gabriella Dawson was truly thankful for him. He was not just a friend to her though he had been her father figure, mentor, business partner, and counsellor at multiple times in her life.

Hermann appreciated Gabby showing up to work in her state but couldn't let her carry on working for her sake and their customers'. After having caught a cold, largely due to her own fault, he allowed her to go home and rest. Never mind the amount of dirty looks he threw her way. She knew it was all in good vein.

Thanks to him, Gabby was now sitting surrounded by the comforts of her home and snuggled on the couch with a laptop and steaming hot chocolate. She was searching home remedies on cold, knowing that she probably won't try any of it anyway but still did it for all its worth.

*Bam!*

Startled Gabby looked around, Hallie Thomas had walked in through the door banging it open, looking completely winded.

"Since when did you start using doors?" Gabby asked her skeptically.

Hallie ignored her jibe. Gabby sneezed a couple of times"Excuse me"

"Your boy is being followed!" She huffed trying to catch her breath.

Gabby recoiled while Hallie's words registered in her cold stricken head. "What, what the hell are you talking about?"

"Don't believe me? Wait!" She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on something very hard.

"Hallie! what kind of trickery..."

She was cut off by Hallie who had held up a hand to silence her.

*Doorbell*

"There he is" Hallie announced, opened her eyes and wordlessly motioned her to the door.

As soon as Gabby pulled the door open, Matt burst through, took her by the arm and led her towards the window looking over the street.

"Matt, what is going on?"

"Have you seen this car before?"he asked her urgently.

"What?!"

"Just answer me, have you?"

Gabby looked at the red pick up truck and shook her head. Matt sighed heavily as the car jerked to life and sped off into the night.

""I think I'am being followed" he admitted to her.

"What?" This time believing it. Behind him Hallie gave her a distinct "told-ya" look.

"Why? And who would do that? Are you in trouble?!"

"No Gabby I'm not in any trouble, well was not until now anyway. I don't know who would do that?"

"Ask him about Susan" whispered Hallie

Gabby threw a confused look at her as if she hadn't heard her properly which earned her a menacing "do-it " look from the spirit.

"Do you think Susan..." her voice faded away as she sneezed a few times again.

"Susan? Susan Wheeler? Now Gabby I get it you don't like her but to put such a blame on her isn't fair. Why do you think it could be her anyway. What are you basing that accusation on?"

Gabby looked fervently at Hallie for an answer who looked away

"Well she is only one you have been dealing with lately and you were going to decline her offer to help you achieve more. Maybe that pissed her off "

"I haven't spoken to her about that yet"he dismissed.

"Oh then, ignore what I just said " *sneeze*

"Do you think we should call Antonio ?"

"Yeah sure I'll give him a call in the morning "

Apparently assured Matt relaxed a little, took a seat on the couch and watched as Gabby sneezed a couple of times more.

"I'm going to make coffee, d'you want some?" He asked

Gabby shook her head fervently, coffee would make her queasy.

"Then maybe some tea?" He offered

"Okay"

"When did you first realise you were being followed. Do you suspect anyone from your political circle or maybe at the firehouse?"

He shrugged before answering "Yesterday morning. But I swear I have seen this car a fair few times in the last week. So I'm really not sure"

"D'you...do you think Riddle could be behind this?"

"Chief Riddle?" Matt shook his head and continued " I don't know. I mean I wouldn't put it past him to do something like this but why would he?"

"Why don't you check with Kelly. Maybe he has noticed something too"

He nodded in reply. That was a good idea.

"I'll talk to him tomorrow "

"Matt, I'm really worried"

"There's no need to worry, Gabby. They probably don't want to kill me. They have had their chances. It's about something else."

Gabby looked around desperately towards Hallie, who nodded and replied, " Don't worry. Im on it" and drifted off the apartment.

She wouldn't admit it but she felt reassured by Hallie who in any case had a better chance at solving this mystery than any one else.

Gabby sneezed again as Matt came around with a cup of tea for her and coffee for himself.

"What am I gonna do I don't feel better in the morning?" She whined

"Do you wanna take tomorrow off?"

"For coming down with a cold?! Just the thought of it sounds lame!"

 **A/N-**

 **What do you think? Like it/Don't like it? Tell me all about it and please consider reviewing ❤️**


	10. Free fallin'

Really sorry for the delay with this update. Hope you like it! Enjoy!

Gabby Dawson was being abused by her own body. Her body acted like it wanted nothing to do with Gabby anymore. The rebel behaviour of her body had resulted in another sleepless night for her. But it could also be partially attributed to her constant worrying about Matt all night. Why and who could possibly be following him? Having called Antonio first thing in the morning, she still did not feel very reassured even though he had promised to get back to her with some information in a couple of days. She secretly wished Hallie would come up with some information soon.

At the shift

"Guys! We're gonna do some drills. Apparatus floor in ten minutes" Matt announced from the entrance of the lounge area, and swiftly marched towards his office after earning a "we'll be there lieutenant" from Hermann.

Gabby looked around the room at her colleagues. Nobody seemed bothered at the prospect of going through truck drills in the blazing hot sun outside. Of course why would they be. Going through drills was nothing new for any of them. Gabby, however, did not feel any better than she had that morning. And now Drills! She didn't even feel upto walking right now. Going upto Matt and asking him to excuse her for one day seemed like a good idea but she had never been one to accept special treatment from anyone, especially him. Deciding to keep a clean record, she did her best to keep up with the rest of the crew and participate fully without any complains. By the end of the routine she was left with absolute no energy for anything other than sleeping and crashing. She headed to the sleeping quarters in a state of complete daze, falling asleep as quickly as her body hit the bed.

\- few hours later-

"Hey Dawson, I need some help" a worried Brett came up behind the couch where Gabby and Mouch were comfortably lounging. Since Gabby really wasn't feeling very energetic she didn't want to do anything other than just sleep all day or play crosswords. She kind of felt that she understood how Mouch must feel every day.

She narrowed her eyes at Brett.

"Please?" Brett pleaded, fully aware of Gabby's state.

Gabby sneezed a couple of times, groaned and with great effort got up from the couch and followed Brett to the sleeping quarters.

"You know how unlucky I have been in the dating department for a while now. So I got this idea in my head about trying online dating" she looked like a child with her eyes shining wide with excitement.

"Oooooookayyyy" Gabby gave her a confused look, hoping there was more to this story.

"I need your help, setting up a good enough profile"

"What?" She asked feeling a little light headed already.

"Yeah, since it's the first thing people look at after your picture, I need to make a good impression"

Gabby swayed on her feet not at all following Brett.

"HEY!" Brett called as she grabbed her by the shoulders and made her sit on the bed nearest to them.

"I'm fine. Just a little dizzy"

"Are you sure? I ..."

She was cut off by the alarm bells

*Structure fire. 24 th street. North west gambon. Ambulance 61. Truck 81. Squad 3.*

They ran towards their respective vehicles.

At the call

"Truck! Squad! You don't have a lot of time, this building may flash any minute. You have got two minutes for primary search, not a second more than that" the chief yelled out to his teams.

"Alright, you heard him! Let's move!" Boomed Severide.

"Hermann, Otis search the first floor, Borelli with me on the second. Dawson, Mouch stretch the aerial and have those hoses ready!" Casey hollered. It was best to keep Gabby out of this since she wasn't feeling well anyway, Matt thought. He couldn't take any risks with her.

Both the companies truck 81 and squad 3 finished their search for any victims that may have been trapped in the burning building. They all came up empty handed.

"Chief the buildings empty!"

"All right then! Charge the hoses!"

*BOOM!*

Before anyone could act, the building flashed taking the roof with it. Everyone ducked for their own safety.

Gabby ran into action and charged up the hose using up all the energy she had left inside of her. The structure was toasted and smoke had now donned a darker hue. This was going to take some time, Gabby thought miserably. After several hard minutes of fighting the exhaustion inside of her, Gabby felt herself sway again. She didn't even have time to call anyone out and inform them before she felt light headed and closed her eyes shut.

Matt was helping the rest of the guys load up the truck when he glanced at the aerial just in time to see Gabby's grip on the aerial go loose, her feet left the step on the ladder and her limp body fell weightless towards the ground. "GABBY!" his scream did not register on Gabby's ears as he ran towards her.

She couldn't have been more than three feet off the ground when he saw her loose speed abruptly and jerk before touching the ground with a soft, dull thud. Something had miraculously broken her fall before Matt reached her.

"Gabby, baby"He flipped her on her back and shook her by the shoulder. Sylvie Brett quickly made her way towards her friend and checked for her vitals. They were all there, she didn't need any equipment to confirm that.

"She's breathing, no signs of external trauma, pulse is there but it's weak. Casey, would you loosen her clothing for me."as she raised her feet in the air to facilitate blood flow towards the head.

With shaking hands he undid her jacket and the rest of her gear.

A few horrifying moments later, Gabby stirred as she regained her consciousness "Gabby!" Matt called hurriedly.

Gabby tried to focus her attention and looked at Matt with confusion.

"What happened?" she asked groggily.

"You fell. You don't remember?"

She shook her head lightly.

"Dawson, is there anything that hurts?" Sylvie enquired worriedly. She again shook her head.

"Alright she seems fine but I still think we should take her to med and get her checked out" she looked at Casey who nodded.

"Okay let's get her on a board"

"I'll ride with you" Matt announced as they loaded her into the ambo.

"Chief?" He turned to Boden to seek permission

"Go ahead and keep me posted"

A/N-

This is the first time that I have described a call. Lemme know if you liked it and would want me to continue. If you liked the chapter spare two minutes of your time to review ❤️


	11. Close Shave

**Thank you to all the lovely readers who take the time to review. I hope you guys like this one too!**

 **Close Shave**

*At Chicago med *

"There really is no need for this!" Gabby whined as she was wheeled into a ward.

"Gabby, for the last time..."

"Matt, I'm okay. Perfectly fine" she insisted.

"Well then can you explain what happened back at the call? People don't just fall off thirty feet ladders for nothing, Gabby"

"I was just exhausted. It was weakness nothing else. I'll rest today and be back for duty by tomorrow in all my fitness glory" she tried to reassure him.

"Haha. Listen, It's just a routine examination, it can't hurt. I really want to believe you that it was nothing but if it wasn't, then..." he shook his head, not daring to think about the alternative.

"Fine! On one condition though" she warned.

Matt raised his eyebrows at her, "What?"

"I'll go through all this futile exercise of being examined without any complaints, if, you go back to the firehouse and finish this shift"

"Chief allowed me to be here. The guys will be fine without me. Hermann's in charge" he tried to argue.

"But can't you see? I'm perfectly alright. I don't need an attendant for god's sake, Matt. Truck is already short a member because of me and you being here just adds to that number"

When he didn't look convinced, she gave him a hard, intense glare and tried to make him see reason. He couldn't really argue against that, in a way she was right.

Gabby thankfully really did not look like someone who had just dropped off a thirty feet ladder onto the ground. There had been definitely something or someone looking out for her today since she came out of the ordeal completely unscathed. Something, he couldn't quite explain even to himself, had kept her alive and he was eternally grateful. Knowing very well, she will have her way come what may, he gave in.

"Alright I'll go back and you keep me updated, is that clear?"

"Yes sir" she smiled smugly and nodded.

She was so cute, he couldn't help the smile that made its way onto his face. He dropped his head up to her level and pecked her lips before Gabby urgently grabbed him by the jacket and roughly pulled him down to her again. With her hands knotted up in his hair, she kissed him deeply, leaving him completely breathless and dazed.

As Gabby pulled away, Matt grabbed her shoulder for support until his head stopped spinning. "Thanks for that. I'll see you later" he managed, his eyes still closed. Gabby giggled.

"Later" she whispered as Matt stumbled out of the room.

Minutes ticked by as Gabby reflected back on the events before she had completely blacked out. She did not remember anything about losing her footing on the aerial and then taking the fall at all. All she could recall was feeling a bit lightheaded and then bliss. She was pulled out of her thoughts by a nurse who collected her samples for some tests. As soon as the nurse finished & started towards the door, Gabby drew in a sharp breath.

Hallie Thomas had suddenly appeared, out of thin air, onto the far end of Gabby's bed, where she was now sitting as if she'd been there the whole time.

"You okay? Do you need something", the concerned young nurse called from the doorway.

Gabby quickly collected herself, took a deep breath and lied easily "No thanks, Anna. I'm fine. It was just a hiccup" throwing in an extra fake hiccup for better theatrics as the nurse left the room, not believing Gabby at all.

"Oooooh nice cover up!" mused Hallie.

"Gosh! I still skip a beat! Every time you arrive"

"I love you too" she said seductively, making Gabby roll her eyes.

"So any info? About the guy? Or who he is reporting to?" she inquired eagerly.

A little taken aback by the 'straight to business' talk, she collected herself before replying, "Did you guys see the truck again?"

"I didn't. Neither did Matt I guess or he would have said something"

"Hmm, well I have a good news and a bad news"

"Okayyyyy" Gabby answered, feeling anxious already.

"Bad news, my suspicions were right. It is Susan wheeler who's having your guy followed" she informed smugly, clearly proud of herself for having collected that bit of information.

"What? That bitch!" Gabby exclaimed furiously.

"Good news, I don't think she's all that dangerous to you guys. She doesn't strike me as someone who could potentially harm you. I mean, maybe it's her way of doing a background check on the people she is working for, you know"

Gabby looked suspiciously at Hallie, searching her face for what she was trying to imply here. As far as she knew, they had both been on the same team in Susan's case, hell, it was Hallie who had first called Susan out to Gabby in the first place. It, therefore, stumped her that she would try to convince her of Susan's innocence now. But Gabby was not going to let anyone talk her out of it. She had hated that woman since the moment she had set eyes on her. Mad with fury, she whipped out her phone and called Matt.

"What are you doing?"

"I have to tell Matt" she answered in an obvious tone.

"Tell him what and how do you know?" Hallie asked coolly.

Gabby realized her mistake, disconnected the call and closed her eyes. She had completely forgotten about Hallie.

"What am I gonna do?"she grunted helplessly.

"Listen girl, priorities. You first need to figure out how to break this information to Matt. Second I think you guys should wait because 'that bitch' hasn't really caused you any harm, yet. Maybe she is done with you guys. You haven't seen the truck today, have you?"

As Gabby calmed down a little she knew Hallie was right, she had to figure out a way to tell Matt first and then worry about dealing with Susan later.

"How do we let him know?"

"That's the thing, see, I have planned out everything. Next time she decides to meet the guy, I'll have little miss susy text, Matt, the location 'accidentally'. You guys turn up there and catch her in the act. Sound good?"

Gabby carefully considered her suggestion and nodded. It was the best option she had going for them right now.

"Okay then, you keep shadowing her until then"

"Is this your way of dismissing me" Hallie mocked hurt.

Gabby gave her a little smile and nodded.

Hallie made her way to the door before turning back and calling, "Oh and you're welcome. It was nothing. Don't mention it"

"What are you talking about"

"Dude, I just saved your sassy ass today, or you would be sitting here with more than energy drinks flowing through your veins"

"Oh! That was you?" she asked naively as the realization hit her.

"Well, of course, it was me. Who else do you think could pull off a feat like that" she asked with disbelief.

Now that Gabby thought about it, it did seem like the most obvious thing, at least in her case anyway. For it was near impossible for someone to take a tumble 30 feet to the ground and still be eating and talking like the way she was. Hallie had, in fact, saved her life today. She felt deeply indebted to her and for the first time since she was first visited by Hallie's spirit, Gabby felt thankful for her presence.

"Thanks" she muttered sincerely.

Hallie winked at her and left.

 **A/N-**

 **Thoughts, lovelies?**


	12. The news

Still at the hospital, Gabby Dawson was trying to make sense of all the information Hallie had brought with her, when she heard a knock on her door again.

"Come in"

"Hi Gabby "

"Dr Manning! Hi, uhhh" Gabby started confusedly.

She was a little taken aback by Dr Manning's presence since Gabby had almost always reported to Dr Halstead for all her previous consultations. An uneasy sense of anxiety and dread filled her. What could possibly have warranted Dr Manning's presence there?

"Yeah, I know you are probably thinking, why is she here? Where's Dr Halstead? What's wrong with me?"

"I, uh, no not at all ..."she lied a little too hastily.

"Gabby, relax. Your case was handed over to me by Dr Halstead himself. And before your mind goes into overdrive, let me make it clear, you're fine, don't worry" she tried to ease her mind.

Gabby smiled confusedly, "I'm sorry but my...my case?" her paramedic mind quickly catching onto the word. When did she become "a case"?

Dr Manning smiled appreciatively at Gabby's attentiveness, "Gabby, I think it's fair to say that this unconscious episode you had today was the result of physical weakness, which I'm guessing is the conclusion that you already have deduced"

Gabby nodded anxiously but remained silent and waited for Dr Manning to continue, "Now, what brought on that weakness, that's down to several factors. I was going through your history and it said that you haven't been feeling well for the past couple of weeks, is that right?"

"Yeah it's kinda been an entire month actually. It's just been something or the other, you know" she said relaxing a little.

"Right and you're a paramedic, so you know this condition is nothing that a few supplements, less stress and a good amount of rest can't take care of, right?"

"Yeah of course"

"So I'll prescribe a few supplements that best suit your needs and you can collect them at the counter. That's one thing sorted. But what demands our focus more right now, is the 'other thing'"

"The Other thing?"

"Oh! you don't know yet? You haven't...okay. Your blood reports just came through and I think it's pretty clear and I'm really quite surprised that you don't already know but you're...uh, pregnant" she smiled.

"I'm what?" She blurted absolutely dumbfounded. Convinced that she had misheard the doc, she asked again, " sorry but what did you say again?"

"Gabby, you are pregnant " she said with considerable pause between each word. There was no mistaking it this time. Gabby's mind suddenly was racing. She squeezed her eyes shut in the effort to concentrate on recalling her last period. Shit! She was indeed late.

Not only late, she was now apparently pregnant.

"But how is that possible? How could have I missed the signs? I mean I have been there before, I know….", She rattled in one breath.

"Gabby, take a deep breath. It's quite possible that the signs got masked under your health problems and you missed them. It happens"

"But I,.." she mumbled

"Gabby, Dr Halstead has filled me in about your history in detail" Dr Manning continued, completely unaware of the storm of thoughts currently occupying Gabby's mind.

"And I'd like to personally assure you and I know it's hard for you trust me but I promise I'll take good care of you"

With the amount of things going through her head, Dr Manning seemed to be going too fast for Gabby's slowing and emotional state of mind.

"Can I get an ultrasound just to confirm, you know. I mean after last time..." her eyes filled with tears that took all her might to fight back.

Being a mother herself, Natalie, of course understood.

"Sure, I can get you into one, day after tomorrow" she informed her going through a few sheets of paper on her board.

"I'll be probably be on shift. Is there no opening before that?"

"I'm sorry Gabby but we're running a little short of staff right now. So that's as early as I can do for you"

"Okay no worries, thanks Dr Manning, for everything" her voice breaking at the end.

"No problem, see ya soon and take care" Dr Manning replied warmly.

Gabby reached her car, parked just outside the hospital (courtesy of Matt), she locked herself in and let all the emotions that were threatening to pour out of her before, consume her. She sobbed, allowing herself to let go completely. She didn't know how long she sat there and she didn't care. It was too much to take in for anyone and that too in just one day. She knew she had a lot of things to figure out in response to this new discovery, but it could all wait a little longer. Just as she was starting to recover from her crying spell, her phone buzzed.

Matt. She couldn't talk to him, right now. Couldn't tell him yet, at least not until the ultrasound confirmed it. She collected herself and with shaking hands, she texted him:

Still at the hospital. These tests are taking forever. I'll call when I get back home😊

Next Morning

Matt came home early next morning. Expecting Gabby to be still asleep, he deemed it wiser to use his keys for entry rather than knocking or ringing the bell.

Gabby, to his surprise, was not only wide awake but sitting on the couch, cozily snuggled up in her blanket and cradling a warm cup of (decaf)coffee in her hands.

"Hey, you up early?" he asked her as he dropped his duffle on the floor beside the door.

"I woke up in the middle of the night, too hungry to go back to sleep" she shrugged. Matt laughed as he approached her and kissed her forehead.

"I hope you had something coz I didn't get anything. Want me to.."

"Um, I already did. I made pancakes and there's some for you too. So, help yourself"

"Oh, I love you"

Gabby watched Matt gobble down his breakfast from the other end of the couch. As she watched him, it didn't take her mind long to wander to yesterday's events.

"So, how come you never called me after coming back home yesterday?" he asked fishing out the last dregs of breakfast from his plate.

"Gabby?" he called noting he had lost her.

"GABBY!" he tried harder this time.

"Huh" she jerked out of her thoughts.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't it be?" she countered, disregarding his concern. Matt continued to watch her closely, he had a hunch there was definitely something going on with her.

"Did you get the results of your tests?" he asked again

"Yeah, I did. All good"

"Then did they give you an explanation for why that happened"

"Uh, it was just weakness like I told you. Doc gave me a few supplements to munch on. Otherwise everything looks fine" she replied avoiding his eyes

Matt nodded, not believing her completely.

"Also, hey, Matt, I think I'd better shift to ambo until I start feeling a hundred percent. Because right now I don't, honestly. Doc said it might take a little time for me to get there, you know"

Gabby had thought all last night about feeding Matt that excuse for shifting to ambo at least until she could tell him about the baby. She knew she couldn't take any chances this time. She was going to take all precautions to make sure their baby survived this time.

Matt reached out, grabbed her hand and squeezed it gently, "With Borrelli's place vacant, I'm sure chief would have no problems in granting your wish" she smiled back at him.

"And well, Antonio called. He said they got hold of the guy who was following you, but they couldn't get anything out of him. The truckie says all those times you spotted him were just coincidences"

"That's bullshit" he spat.

"I know, I know and so does Antonio" she assured him raising her hands in peace

"Maybe that's why I haven't seen him in a while. He knows we are on him" he surmised.

"Maybe"

"Anyway, I'm going to catch up on some sleep, now. Care to join me?" he asked her playfully


	13. Women!

Hello, I'm cannot even begin to express how bad I feel for the delay in this chapter. I completely understand if it has led you to loose interest in this story but for those who are still here and interested, I thank you and hope that this chapter doesn't disappoint.

Matt came home early next morning. Expecting Gabby to be still asleep, he deemed it wiser to use his keys for entry rather than knocking or ringing the bell.

Gabby, to his surprise, was not only wide awake but sitting on the couch, cozily snuggled up in her blanket and cradling a warm cup of (decaf)coffee in her hands.

"Hey, you up early?" he asked her as he dropped his duffle on the floor beside the door.

"I woke up in the middle of the night, too hungry to go back to sleep" she shrugged. Matt chuckled as he approached her and kissed her on the forehead.

"I hope you had something coz I didn't get anything. Want me to.." he said sheepishly.

"Um, I already did. I made pancakes and there's some for you too. So, help yourself"

"Oh, you're the best," he said instantly, relieved.

Gabby watched Matt gobble down his breakfast from the other end of the couch. As she watched him, it didn't take her mind long to wander to yesterday's events. How much longer would she to wait to break the news to him, she didn't know. But one thing she did know was that it was going to get harder, by the day, to keep it from him.

"So, how come you never called me after coming back home yesterday?" he asked fishing out the last dregs of breakfast from his plate.

"Gabby?" he called noting her trance.

"GABBY!" he tried harder this time.

"Huh" she jerked out of her thoughts.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't it be?" she countered, disregarding his concern. Matt continued to watch her closely, he had a hunch there was definitely something going on with her. But knowing Gabby, trying to pry out any more info might not be the best course of action at this time, he judged.

"Did you get the results of your tests?" He tried, a little more casually this time.

"Yeah, I did. All good"

"Then, did they give you an explanation for why it happened"

"Uh, it was just the weakness like I told you. Doc gave me a few supplements to munch on. Otherwise everything looks fine" she replied avoiding his eyes.

Matt nodded, not believing her completely.

"Also, hey, Matt, I think I'd better shift to ambo until I start feeling a hundred percent. Because right now I don't, honestly. Doc said it might take a little time for me to get there, you know"

Gabby had thought all last night about feeding Matt that excuse for shifting to ambo at least until she could tell him about the baby. She knew she couldn't take any chances this time. She was going to take all precautions to make sure their baby survived this time. And even before that she was going to damn well make sure that this time their pregnancy was "viable".

Matt reached out, grabbed her hand and squeezed it gently, "With Borrelli's place vacant, I'm sure chief would have no problems in granting your wish" she smiled back at him.

"And well, Antonio called. He said they got hold of the guy who was following you, but they couldn't get anything out of him. The truckie says all those times you spotted him were just coincidences"

"That's bullshit" he spat.

"I know, I know and so does Antonio" she assured him raising her hands in peace

"Maybe that's why I haven't seen him in a while. He knows we are on him" he surmised.

"Maybe. They've got a tail on him now, so..."

Matt huffed deeply, "Anyway, I'd like to catch up on some sleep. Care to join me?" he asked her playfully

"Matt!"Gabby called around the house.

Matt jerked awake at her call, "Matt!" louder this time.

"Hey " he greeted her groggily as he padded his way into the kitchen in his boxers.

"Hey! Sleepy head, I am on Molly's duty today" she informed walking up to him, stood on the tips of her toes, grabbed his face in her small warm hands and kissed him gently on his lips.

"You did not tell me that before" he complained still adjusting to the light of the room.

"I forgot, Hermann called to remind me just now. So, I'm heading there right now. You wanna come along. Your fund raiser isn't until late in the evening, is it?"

"No, but yeah I'll come with you" he did not want to be alone for most of the day if he could help it.

"Sure you don't have anywhere else to be?"

"Sure. I'm coming with" he announced confidently.

At Molly's

"Refill, lieutenant?"

Hermann asked Matt as he held onto an empty whiskey glass.

"Nah! Thanks I'm good. It's still very early in the day to be drunk"

"Depends where you are going!" quipped Hermann, to which Matt chuckled.

"Here" said Gabby waving a bit of paper in front of Hermann. "Need to restock on these, stocks are running low" Taking a seat next to Matt she leant against the bar for some rest.

Matt ran a hand along her thigh, "You okay?"

"Yeah just a bit winded" Matt exchanged a look of worry with Hermann and passed him a message through eye contact, to look after his girl.

"Take it easy, okay?"

Gabby's phone buzzed. Unknown caller.

"Hello?"

"Hey Gabby, its Dr Manning. I'm calling to let you know of an opening for the ultrasound appointment today in half an hour, since the other patient cancelled theirs. So if you think you can make it to Chicago med in time, I can keep the spot safe for you"

"Yes absolutely. I'm on my way. Thank you so much"

"Great, you're welcome. See you at the clinic"

If you've ever witnessed a lightning that's how quickly Gabby was on her feet, startling everyone in the room.

She ignored the sudden attention towards her as she turned towards Matt,"I need to duck out for a half an hour. An hour at max"

"What? Why? Who was it on the phone?"

"Antonio"

"Antonio?"

"Please can you hold fort here while I'm gone, please Matt. I'll be back before you know it "

"Me?"

"Yeah just help Hermann around or pretend to but don't stand in the way"

"Gabby! What is goin on? Why has Antonio asked to meet you all of a sudden? You just met him last week"

Gabby

" what are you hiding from me"

"I swear I'll tell you when I get back " she called behind her, before running hurriedly back in as if she'd forgotten something, kissed Matt firmly on the lips and whispered, "For good luck" and disappeared out of the door.

Leaving Matt to shake his head and exclaim, "Women!"


End file.
